Skunkape is a fraud, and I'm a witness!

My mother was born and raised in the small town of Everglades City Florida, where she went to school with the famed panther tracker David Shealy and
his brother Jack. They have all been friends for several years while growing up in the sparcely populated town where the skunk ape legend originates,
needless to say my mother knows David personally. He had in fact drove my mother to the collier county hospital at eleven o' clock at night to Naples
on january the 12th of 1987 where she gave birth to me. Though the Shealy family were not very popular in these parts, residents in Everglades know
David Shealy all too well, and say that he is just a little on the crazy side, and laugh at the very mentioning of his name. One day back in july of
1998, my mother drove me to see his florida panther gift shop off of the deserted tamiami trail where he had two giant pythons, several baby gators
and the all popular skunkape footprint molds, pictures, and memorabilia. After listening to his seemingly convincing stories for an hour about how he
tracked and photographed the skunk ape at literally 50 feet away, I started probing for more information and other possible witnessing of this
mystical being. Before I even started my investigation, my mother put an end to it adbruptly stating "Oh that was just his brother in a gorilla
costume". I wasn't 100% convinced with my mothers statement so I asked several locals in everglades city and neighboring city of naples along with all
my family members who have known of david for a few more months and got the same unsatisfying story from EVERYONE "it was just his brother".
Disappointed with my findings, I eventually got the courage up to ask David Shealy himself if it really was just a hoax. Expecting a defensive rant
and more convincing he suprisingly started to laugh hysterically and admitted to the scam. He said that he and his brother along with some friends had
conjured up the elaborate scheme while having a few tall ones around a fire on his campground, ultimately trying to get a rise out of the government
and media. Though the government had dismissed the story and its evidence without any interest in it what so ever, they obviously succeeded in
catching the medias attention along with some of its impressionable viewers. After all the attention died down and not being able to profit off the
skunk ape merchandise, David pretty much called it quits. Even after all the accusations and testimonies, he will still not admit publicly that it was
all just a lie. There you have it, to those who have pondered, fantasized, and even actively pursued the legendary myth of the florida skunk ape, the
story is in fact is just a story!

lol, well let me rephrase it for optimists like you, The Florida Everglades Skunk Ape isn't real. Ideally, if there was such thing as big
foot's around the world, don't you think SOMEONE would have killed or captured one by now???

Could be that we're underrating the "beast",you ever think of that? Maybe that's why it survived so long.Physical attributes of a primate/mental
attributes of a modern human....not stating that from fact or anything,but it does make you wonder.

Originally posted by maxhile
My mother was born and raised in the small town of Everglades City Florida, where she went to school with the famed panther tracker David Shealy and
his brother Jack. They have all been friends for several years while growing up in the sparcely populated town where the skunk ape legend originates,
needless to say my mother knows David personally. He had in fact drove my mother to the collier county hospital at eleven o' clock at night to Naples
on january the 12th of 1987 where she gave birth to me. Though the Shealy family were not very popular in these parts, residents in Everglades know
David Shealy all too well, and say that he is just a little on the crazy side, and laugh at the very mentioning of his name. One day back in july of
1998, my mother drove me to see his florida panther gift shop off of the deserted tamiami trail where he had two giant pythons, several baby gators
and the all popular skunkape footprint molds, pictures, and memorabilia. After listening to his seemingly convincing stories for an hour about how he
tracked and photographed the skunk ape at literally 50 feet away, I started probing for more information and other possible witnessing of this
mystical being. Before I even started my investigation, my mother put an end to it adbruptly stating "Oh that was just his brother in a gorilla
costume". I wasn't 100% convinced with my mothers statement so I asked several locals in everglades city and neighboring city of naples along with
all my family members who have known of david for a few more months and got the same unsatisfying story from EVERYONE "it was just his brother".
Disappointed with my findings, I eventually got the courage up to ask David Shealy himself if it really was just a hoax. Expecting a defensive rant
and more convincing he suprisingly started to laugh hysterically and admitted to the scam. He said that he and his brother along with some friends had
conjured up the elaborate scheme while having a few tall ones around a fire on his campground, ultimately trying to get a rise out of the government
and media. Though the government had dismissed the story and its evidence without any interest in it what so ever, they obviously succeeded in
catching the medias attention along with some of its impressionable viewers. After all the attention died down and not being able to profit off the
skunk ape merchandise, David pretty much called it quits. Even after all the accusations and testimonies, he will still not admit publicly that it was
all just a lie. There you have it, to those who have pondered, fantasized, and even actively pursued the legendary myth of the florida skunk ape, the
story is in fact is just a story!

I thought you needed 20 posts to start a thread here!
Anyway, all of the eyewitness accounts and drawings/descriptions have been 5 to 6 foot and monkey/apelike.
This is far from the Bigfoot, which is a real animal.

Ape costumes and masks are readily available. I hope those hoaxers are donning a bulletproof vest for their sake.

Ok so the title was not politically correct, its the first thread i ever posted. My accounts with this story are true in every detail and i thought
someone would find it interesting that the florida skunk ape that was found by david shealy was just a hoax. By the way, just for your objections
i've done some research and found that there have been multiple sitings of real live cavemen in florida, bout as close to a skunk ape as you can get.
Enjoy! images.travelpod.com...

Go out in the Florida Everglades at night, which has got to be one of the most inhospitable and dangerous ecosystems in the world teeming with snakes,
alligators, crocodiles, panthers, toads, frogs, lizards, insects, and birds that make every conceivable creepy sound you can imagine in the dark at
night, and drink a little drink and you are bound to see just about anything your imagination can conjure up in in the treeline, bushes and water.

Natuarly very few people have the actual courage to do this voluntarily so yes, by all means drive that point home by telling people just how much
courage you had, and how scarey it was when you saw_____________!

Puff out your chest, stand a little taller and hold your chin high as you look around the room at the white faces draining of blood, as they tell you
how brave and crazy you are too, and how they would never do that.

There is no skunk ape, but in the deepest darkest heart of the everglades where not even the indian quides dare to go you will find_____________!

I done seen it with my own eyes, I swear it!

edit on 3/11/10 by ProtoplasmicTraveler because: spelling

edit on 3-11-2010 by Crakeur because: removed reference to behavior
not discussed on ATS.

Makes me wonder who in their right mind would sit out in the middle of no where in the rain and cold way early in the morning in a large suit that
made them look 7 foot tall and allowed them to walk faster than I've ever seen a human run on the off chance that I was going to walk
through that area at the exact right moment and mistake them for a sasquatch.

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